The Otherworld Alliance and the New Threat
by Yoshi's Best Pal
Summary: After the most recent Mortal Kombat tournament, an alliance is formed to defend against a grab for power from the Mortal Kombat champion. Rated for brutal violence and strong gore throughout, as well as mild language.


Infinity Entertainment Presents

An Insanity Works Production

A Luke Lynch Story

_**The Otherworld Alliance and the New Threat**_

**Chapter 1: Deadly Alliance 2.0**

The snow continued to pile up in front of the temple. A small lake was frozen over at its front steps. Visibility, however, was upwards of 80 percent-par for the course for the realm of Arctika, and par for the course for the man walking around the frozen lake. Standing over six feet tall, and powerfully built, this man was definitely among the last people one would want to meet in a dark alley. His outfit, which was a black tunic with blue patterning down the shoulder line and on his belt, evoked images of a deadly ninja. Just as well, for this man was Grand Master of a clan of lethal warriors who could control the element of ice. His name? Kuai Liang, known better to the realms at large as simply..."Sub-Zero".

Sub-Zero surveyed the frozen lake with a jeweler's eye, then walked out to the middle of it and sat down, crossing his legs. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he entered into a meditative state. His body soon relaxed, and he let his thoughts begin to drift. They started with the most recent Mortal Kombat tournament, which had been won by a former Prince of the realm of Edenia with the ability to control the weather. All Sub-Zero knew of this competitor, apart from his fighting ability (which was significant), was his name: Rain.

His thoughts then drifted to Bi-Han, his older brother, who had originally worn the mantle of Sub-Zero, and from whom he himself had learned to use the power of ice. A number of years back, however, he had been killed by the strongest member of a long-dead rival clan, the Shirai Ryu, who had been wiped out by an ancestor of Bi-Han's many ages ago. This man, who was, in and of himself, dead, had blamed Bi-Han for his ancestor's sins. The man, known simply as Scorpion, would later face Kuai Liang in a losing effort during Liang's first Mortal Kombat tournament. Yet, for reasons known only to Raiden, Elder God of Thunder and Protector of Earthrealm, Liang did not kill Scorpion. Even stranger, Liang did not regret not having done so.

But that was not the end of the torment for Liang...

Shortly after Kung Lao of the White Lotus Society had won that particular tournament, Sub-Zero had been training in the Lin Kuei temple (he had not yet become Grand Master) when a dark specter appeared in his room. It introduced itself as Noob Saibot and attacked him. Though Sub-Zero would eventually win the fight, Noob Saibot did not retreat without getting in one last parting shot: It claimed to be Sub-Zero's long-dead brother, Bi-Han.

Troubled, Sub-Zero had sought the counsel of Raiden, from whom he learned the truth: Noob Saibot was, indeed, Bi-Han, resurrected and possessed by Raiden's own father, the Elder God Shinnok. Sub-Zero then resolved to find a way to get Bi-Han's identity back, regardless of what it took to do it, no matter how long it took. Thus far, however, he had yet to succeed.

It was at that point that Sub-Zero came back to himself. Slowly standing up, he walked off the frozen lake and turned back toward the temple. However, he had only taken two steps when he heard a loud whoosh and the slight crackling and heat of flames behind him. He whipped around and yelled, "Halt! Who goes there?!"

He saw a man about his height and build, dressed in a similar outfit to his, yet somehow completely different. The outfit was more evocative of a hellspawn than an ice ninja, and the patterning was colored a sharp yellow. The man opened his eyes to reveal eyes of pure white-there was no iris or pupil to be seen. Sub-Zero recognized him immediately as Scorpion, the man who had killed his brother all that time ago.

"It is I, Hanzo Hasashi of the Shirai Ryu!" announced Scorpion in a fell voice. "I come in peace!"

"A likely comment!" snarled Sub-Zero as all the anger and vengeance came flooding back to him. He began to charge up an attack that would freeze Scorpion in his tracks. But just before it released maximum power...

"I know the identity of my family's true killer!"

That got Sub-Zero's attention. He let the ice power fade away and walked over to Scorpion.

"So you finally understand that you killed a man innocent of the crime with which you had charged him?" he asked dangerously.

"I do," replied Scorpion honestly, "and I also understand that there is no possible way for me to atone for this particular sin."

"The killing of an innocent man?" said Sub-Zero skeptically, raising his left eyebrow for added effect. "I don't think so, either."

"Don't be so blase, Kuai Liang," retorted Scorpion. "Your brother may have been innocent of the crime-as well as far more honorable than I could have given him credit for-but your clan are not innocent of THEIR crime."

"First of all," began Sub-Zero, "how in the unholy frozen HELL do you know my name?"

"Your brother," stated Scorpion simply, and left it at that.

"O...kay," said Sub-Zero slowly. "Second, of what crime are the Lin Kuei guilty?"

"They killed me, personally," answered Scorpion. "That crime, however, I can move on from."

"That's good, I guess," conceded Sub-Zero. "So I no longer need count you among my enemies?"

"Correct," answered Scorpion. "Actually, I was hoping that, starting now, my clan and yours could become allies."

"That would be a powerful alliance indeed," admitted Sub-Zero. "And not one that I would be opposed to, either. But your clan is dead."

"At present, yes," said Scorpion. "But I have a plan."

"Oh?" asked Sub-Zero, intrigued.

"You are familiar with the sorcerers Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, yes?" asked Scorpion.

"The original Deadly Alliance?" mused Sub-Zero. "Yes, I am."

"Well," began Scorpion, "not only is Quan Chi the man responsible for the death of my family and clan, but Shang Tsung has the power to restore souls to this plane of existence. If I play my cards right, I will soon have my clan back."

"Wouldn't we need their original bodies to put the souls in?" asked Sub-Zero.

"Fear not," assured Scorpion. "I've got that covered."

"And how can you be sure that your family and clan would want to come back to this plane?" pressed Sub-Zero.

"When Quan Chi sent your ancestor to wipe out my clan," revealed Scorpion, "he sent their souls to the Netherrealm to serve as his guard."

"Okay," spat Sub-Zero, "that's just wrong."

"And I intend to make him pay for his sins," growled Scorpion.

"One last thing," requested Sub-Zero. "How did you come by this information?"

"A Shaolin monk who spent some time in the Netherrealm," answered Scorpion.

Sub-Zero remembered that day well: When the Deadly Alliance of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi made their grab for power, the first thing they did was kill Shao Kahn, brother of Raiden and evil emperor of Outworld after a false show of allegiance. They then traveled to Earthrealm by way of a mystical portal known only to sorcerers and deities. Making their way surreptitiously to the Wu Shi Academy, they confronted and successfully killed the Shaolin monk Liu Kang, Earthrealm's mightiest warrior and two-time Mortal Kombat champion.

However, Kang was soon resurrected by Raiden, though he was without a soul and went on a bloody rampage. Sub-Zero himself had helped Raiden obtain the victory over Tsung that won Kang his soul back, and he had only just recently reached that harmony of body and soul that he had been at when he was killed.

"All right, then," began Sub-Zero, "I will talk to my Lin Kuei and see what we can dig up on both men."

"And I will put out my own feelers," agreed Scorpion, "for I am not without allies in the Netherrealm."

"No doubt," chuckled Sub-Zero. "I will contact you when we have something."

"Likewise," answered Scorpion, standing up. Sub-Zero did the same.

"Good luck," Scorpion added, extending his hand. Sub-Zero hesitated for a moment, but he then took Scorpion's hand and gave it a firm shake.

"To you, as well," answered Sub-Zero. Then, invoking the traditional Lin Kuei motto, he added, "Be stealthful as the night," and placed his arm across his sternum.

"And deadly as the dawn," replied Scorpion, completing the motto and returning the gesture. He then vanished into a pillar of flame, presumably to the Netherrealm. Sub-Zero looked to the sky, as if praying to the Elder Gods for Scorpion's success. He then made his way back to the temple, anxious to get the search for the former Deadly Alliance underway.

* * *

A/N: And so it begins. Let me know what you think. Also, big thanks to Foreteller of Three for agreeing to beta this story.

TBC...

NEXT: One Down, One To Go


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